Warm New Potato, Asparagus and Halloumi Salad by Ren Behan

This warm vegetarian salad is quick and easy and perfect for Spring. If you don’t have asparagus courgettes work just as well or try it with any seasonal vegetables, you have to hand.

Kids in the Kitchen

Washing the Potatoes – this isn’t a step below, but you could let your kids wash the potatoes either in the sink or a washing up bowl. Let them use the veg brush though if you don’t have one you can use a clean small kitchen cloth. Things to talk about, do the potatoes sink or float? What other items/food/ingredients could you test to see if they sink or float? 

Recipe Courtesy of Ren Behan author of Wild Honey and Rye

Serves: 2

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Equipment

• Roaster or large baking tray

Ingredients

• 500g/2 1/2 cups Jersey Royal new potatoes
• 500g (2 bunches) fresh asparagus
• 1 lemon
• 250g/2 cups halloumi cheese, cubed
• 1 red onion, peeled
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 60g/one cup rocket leaves, rinsed, drained
• 10g/2 tbsp fresh herbs, e.g. dill, mint
• Sea salt and black pepper 

Cooking Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F
2. Chop the new potatoes in half. Spread the potatoes out evenly on a large baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and grate over the zest of one lemon. Roast for 15 minutes in the oven.
3. In the meantime, snap the woody ends away from the asparagus spears, then chop into 1 inch pieces. Chop the onion into 8 pieces.
4. Remove the potatoes from the oven. Add the asparagus, cubed halloumi and onion to the tray. Mix together with the potatoes. Bake for a further 15 minutes.
5. Take the tray out of the oven. Arrange the rocket leaves onto a large platter. Scatter the roasted potatoes, asparagus and halloumi.

To Serve

1. Scatter over some fresh herbs and serve immediately.

You can also scatter over some shredded rotisserie chicken for a non-vegetarian version.